Carissa Johnson has long felt synonymous with Boston rock. She claimed the crown at the 2017 Rock And Roll Rumble. She’s ripped killer riffs around town in a worn denim jacket for close to a decade. Her expertise even spilled over into booking shows at The Jungle in Somerville. She’s all things gritty and garage.
But this spring, her tune is changing. Johnson has embraced the plush realm of synth-rock, and she’s taking her newfound sound to New York City. For good.
Johnson’s move to NYC and departure from pure hard rock means she looks a bit different that the woman who popped champagne at the Rumble five years ago. You might not recognize her. That’s OK — according to her track “Tourist,” sometimes she can barely recognize herself.
“I was never meant to stay,” she sings on the track, sharing a particularly wistful sentiment as she transitions from Boston to NYC. The music video for “Tourist” dropped today (April 1), adding a comical visual layer to Johnson’s 2021 LP Blue Hour.
But before she fully embraces her “tourist” status in a new town, Johnson’s got two local shows to tackle this weekend: A gig at Opus Underground in Salem tonight (April 1) and a follow-up show at O’Brien’s Pub tomorrow evening (April 2).
Ahead of her double-header in Massachusetts this weekend, Vanyaland chatted with Johnson about her musical memories around town, her deep appreciation for MUNA, and how the COVID-19 pandemic turned her into an unexpected “tourist.”
Victoria Wasylak: I really want to focus on the end of one chapter and the start of your next. What made you decide to move? When did you know you wanted to leave Boston?
Carissa Johnson: At the very beginning of 2020, I was planning on relocating and making a big shift with my music. Around that time it was feeling like I was just going through the motions and I got worried, honestly. I wanted to change up my live show, but I couldn’t find the time to restructure or freshen things up the way I really wanted to.
I drove across the country to get clear and a week after that, Covid hit. I don’t think I ever wanted to stay in Boston. I love it there, it’s forever my home, and it is what has shaped me, but in order to keep expanding things had to change. After 10 years of growing up musically there it feels strange to return to the same places, and I feel the need to make myself uncomfortable again.
Being in NYC feels like the first day at a new school. It’s scary and unknown but I’ve needed a fire under me again. It’s consistently the most spontaneous and magical place, and almost everything that inspires me the most is either from here or happening here. The way it’s all fallen together seems like I didn’t even make this decision myself. I never would’ve imagined I’d move here but it just feels like the right time and like it’s the place I need to be.
Why did you pick this song as “the one” to bridge the gap between cities?
This song came together in about five minutes, but the vulnerability of it made me really uneasy. I kept putting it away and second-guessing if I should even release it. It’s the saddest one on the record but it’s also the cheeriest-sounding one. Half of the keyboards in it were a joke, but stuck. That’s usually my process.
The way I cope with most hard things is through comedy, and that’s what got me through the past couple years. It only made sense to make this hard song about isolation and dissociation sound silly and over the top. I was walking around places like Cambridge and Newburyport pretending I was in Paris just to make the days feel different. Then one night my amp blew up when I was playing too loudly, and then I too, had a breakdown.
I’m glad I did though, because that was the turning point. I faced my feelings head-on with this song, and realized that I couldn’t stay where I was, in any way. This song really is the bridge between a pretty dark place and a much brighter one. Maybe not a bridge, but a slippery, winding staircase or something. When I connected with Jampson Films from NYC, it made so much sense to collaborate with them on the video for this song. They’re well-versed in comedy and I feel like from the get go understood where I was coming from. It wound up taking on a NYC theme pretty naturally, and filming with Jampson and my close friends was really the only way to bring this song to its fullest realization.
How do you center yourself when you “feel like a tourist in [your] own skin,” as you say in the song?
Laughing instead of taking anything too seriously. Good friends really help the most. I’d have completely lost it if I didn’t have my close friends nearby or a phone call away. I have some go-to songs and comedy sketches that are always comforts, but really any kind of movement is so beneficial. Learning new things, consuming the right things, and letting go. I think the most valuable thing I’ve learned over the past couple of years is how to let go and let things be. I’m still learning but I think a lot of that “Tourist” feeling stems from feeling out of control. Accepting that and the fact that everything in the universe is uncertain is really hard, but it eliminates a lot of resistance.
I think folks who came to know you from your Rumble victory would be surprised to hear you describe yourself as a synth-rock artist. What pushed you to move a bit away from hard rock and towards a more synth-y sound?
I heard the song “Loudspeaker” by MUNA on a podcast in 2019 and pulled my car over and had an epiphany. I felt like I was floating and discovering a brand new world. That song helped me through a lot, and that band in general. I love rock and punk and still at times feel myself verging on another full-out punk phase, but synths just add a whole other layer of depth and melody I wasn’t accessing before with the simple rock setup.
I love pop music. I’m fascinated by great pop songs. I just want to dance most of the time and I want to make music that makes people want to dance and feel lighter. Also, doing the same thing for ten years gets boring, and I wanted to learn a new instrument and experiment with new sounds. I’m constantly evolving and I hope people would be more concerned if I just stayed the same.
What will you miss most about Boston? What will you “take with you” to New York?
I’ll definitely miss the comfort of knowing where I am and seeing friends out and about all the time. I think Boston really gave me that feeling of being a part of something, that I had never really felt before. I’m so grateful to have made so many friends and to be a part of such a loyal and dedicated community.
Most of my songs began as an idea while driving on Storrow Drive. As soon as I got my license I was driving into the city as much as I could. The idea of driving into Boston always scared me but I couldn’t stay away. I’ve seen so many memorable shows and met so many incredible people, some I’ve admired my entire life, and have had the opportunity to work with or share bills with. I’ll never forget seeing the Neighborhoods at T.T. The Bear’s’ last show. I’ll never forget playing there for the first time, or my first Boston show at All Asia. I remember wanting to play The Paradise so bad and I can’t believe I’ve gotten to play there twice already.
I’ve always loved the city’s music history and how much Boston in general has persevered. I don’t think I’ll miss a lot because it’s all such a part of me. I’ll be back a lot so there won’t really be time to miss anything!